The Elicitor is the literary magazine of Gloucester (MA) High School.
Enjoy new work selected by the 2016-2017 editors Julia Johnson and Jillian Oliveira. The Elicitor online is updated every two weeks. Thank you to the Gloucester Education Foundation for financial support.

As I lie on my back, I nervously watch people move around the room, sometimes passing my table without a second glance. I look over at the others; some are sleeping and some are staring straight at the ceiling. I shift my glance at the giants standing guard over us with bored, blank looks on their faces. I look away and start praying for my pages. I’m a used book, you see, and today my friends and I are going on sale. I remember the good old days when I was fresh off the printing press. I was packed in a big box with my clones and shipped to some bookstore in some city. I watched as people came in the store everyday and browsed around. Every day, I sat back as my clones were picked up by someone. Sometimes, they were flipped through and set back on the rack in the same moment. Other days, they were carefully leafed through and, if they were lucky enough, taken home by that person after an exchange of money with the cashier. Soon, it’s my turn to go and I am promptly taken home by a female with her parents and her siblings. I tremble at the memories that were planted in my mind after my purchase. After years of having my insides ripped and torn, having various liquids spilled/written all over me, and being tossed and thrown around, my salvation finally came when I was put into a donation box for a library. The librarians almost rejected me, but after careful restoration to my pages and binding, I was ready for the shelves. The kids that borrowed me varied from day to day. Some of them would take me home, flip through my pages, and stuff me in their backpack so they could return me they next day. Others took me home and scrutinized my insides carefully; drinking in the story I had to offer. Now, after years of going back and forth from the library, I’m here lying on a table, ready for a new home…or so they think. I’m shaking inside, praying to my author (wherever he/she is) that I won’t have to go through the torment I had to endure after my first purchase. But with my luck, I’ll probably get someone with a massive dog that’ll use my as a chew toy. I can already see it now. Pieces of my pages flying all over the place. Me trapped in a prison of sharp teeth and disgusting saliva. I tremble just thinking about it. But just as I think I’m a goner, I look up and see her. A female looking down at me like I’m some sort of gem or precious treasure. She gently picks me up and starts to flip my pages, examining them and making sure I’m readable. After what seems like an eternity, she hugs me to her chest and asks to buy me. After the usual exchange of money, she turns around and walks out the door with me in her hands. I look up at her and see her smiling and I know that I’m going to be well taken care of for the rest of my days.

The Elicitor is the literary magazine of Gloucester (MA) High School.
Enjoy new work selected by the 2016-2017 editors Julia Johnson and Jillian Oliveira. The Elicitor online is updated every two weeks. Thank you to the Gloucester Education Foundation for financial support.

The Elicitor Version 2.017

1. Welcome to the Elicitor blog. As often as we can we will publish something new--a poem, a short story, a photograph, or something else--by a Gloucester High School student. If you have something you would like for us to consider for electronic publication please email it to juliajohnson@gloucesterschools.com or jillianoliveira@gloucesterschools.com.

2. In addition to updating the blog on a bi-weekly basis we are gathering writing and art for a Spring 2017 full magazine issue of the Elicitor. Please submit work (marked Elicitor) toJulia Johnson, Jillian Oliveira, Ms. Eastman in room 3203, or to your English teacher. All submissions are welcome. We want to read what you've written and look at the art you've made.

Contributors

Gloucester Poet Laureate Scholarship

Organization: John J. Ronan

Amount: $250.00 – girl; $250.00 - boy

Requirements: The Poet Laureate Scholarship was created in 2009 to recognize graduating seniors from GloucesterHigh School who show an interest and ability in poetry. Winners need not be residents of Gloucester. In any year, if only one winner is chosen, that senior will receive $500. Applicants must submit a one page letter explaining past interest and activities involving poetry, and three sample poems.